Sax Gyula (18.06.1951-25.01.2014)

Hungarian Grandmaster (1974). Coach. Hungarian Champion in 1976 and vice-champion in 1974 and shared first in 1977. European Junior in 1972 and Hungarian Junior Champion in 1970.

Starting at the end of the 1970s, Sax took part in the World Championship cycles: 7th-9th place in the Interzonal Tournament at Rio de Janeiro 1979; 8th-9th at Moscow 1982; 10th-11th at Biel 1985; shared the 1st-3rd place at Subotica 1987 which made him a Candidate in 1988 but was eliminated +0=3-2 by Nigel Short.

Best results: 1st place Amsterdam II 1972, 3rd in 1976, 1st-2nd in 1979 and 4th-8th in 1984; took 1st-3rd place at Reggio Emilia 1973/74; gained 1st place at Madonna-de-Campilio, Vrnjacka Banja 1974 and Vinkovci 1976; 3rd-4th at Budapest 1976 and 2nd-3rd in 1977; 2nd-3rd at Hastings 1977/78; 1st-2nd at Las Palmas 1978; 4th at Tilburg 1979; 2nd-4th at Banja-Luka 1981; 1st place at Vrshats and Smederevska-Palanka 1982; 4th-6th at Sarajevo 1982; 1st-5th place  at Metz 1983; 1st at Linares 1983 and Lugano 1984; gained 1st-2nd at Rome 1984, in 1985 – 2nd-3rd, and 1st-2nd in 1986; 3rd-7th place at Gausdal 1984; 1st at Balatonberen Open 1984 and in 1985 he shared 1st-2nd place out of 96 participants; 3rd-4th at Szirak 1985; 3rd at Zagreb-Rijeka 1985; 4th at Brussels 1985; 3rd-11th place out of 432 players at East Berlin 1985; 1st-2nd at New York 1986; 1st at Adelaide 1986/87; 2nd-5th at Sevilla 1987. In 1990 he won Szirak, was equal 5th at the Manila Interzonal, and became a Candidate again, but lost this time to Viktor Korchnoi in 1991. A member of the team which won the 1978 Olympiad where he was awarded a bronze medal for the best individual result at board 3. He has participated in 10 Olympiads between 1970 and 2000. Sax’s chess style developed from the sharp-combination to position with saving the incline to the tactical difficulties.

Best ELO: 2610 in 1988.